A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 33 wins & 35 nominations total
- Maka
- (as Mabel Wharekawa-Burt)
- Hemi's Dad
- (as Roimata Taimana)
- Jake
- (as Tyrone White)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe whales in the movie are a combination of footage of real whales, life size models (some with humans creating movement) and CGI. Keisha Castle-Hughes said the key whale riding scene took place 15-20 miles offshore, and was terrifying.
- GoofsThe father and grandfather argue after the slide show, and the father goes to pull down the white sheet that was hung over some drapes to act as a screen. He pulls it down, along with the rod and orange drapes that the sheet was hanging from. Moments later, the drapes are back up in place and hanging perfectly straight, without enough time for him to re-hang the drapes.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Paikea: In the old days, the land felt a great emptiness. It was waiting. Waiting to be filled up. Waiting for someone to love it. Waiting for a leader.
[child birth scene]
Paikea: And he came on the back of a whale. A man to lead a new people. Our ancestor, Paikea. But now we were waiting for the firstborn of the new generation, for the descendant of the whale rider. For the boy who would be chief.
Paikea: There was no gladness when I was born. My twin brother died, and took our mother with him.
- Crazy creditsDedicated to those who have gone before
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Making of 'Whale Rider' (2003)
The DVD of 'Whale Rider' was released in 2004 but it never attracted me greatly. and getting round to watching it has taken me some time. There are so many films of a similar type where the story sounds very admirable and wholesome, but experience warns that the combination of a cast of enthusiastic and largely non-professional actors, a limited budget, and over-enthusiastic direction by somebody not fully understanding the limitations of the medium, often culminates in a rather mawkish product. The fear that this might have happened here has kept me away for a long time. To anyone else in this position let me recommend getting a disk and giving it a spin as soon as possible.
Admittedly promoters of such films take a considerable risk - often their final budget stands or falls largely on the performance of the star. The rest of the cast are essentially ordinary people playing themselves and even though they may not have much acting experience, their parts are not too demanding so minor imperfections are often not too disruptive. But one minor glitch in the performance of the star can break the spell which is created when the audience begins to feel involved in the story and concerned about what happens to the individuals portrayed. This is essentially a film by a woman director about feminine empowerment, but not the sterile antagonistic type which looks for a world run exclusively by women (preferably with only a few men left around to keep the sperm banks well stocked). Here we are looking at the true equality that first began to be recognised during the World Wars of the twentieth century when everyone understood there was an enormous task to accomplish and we could never finish it unless we harnessed the full abilities of everyone in our society. This is a film from New Zealand where the leaders of a traditionally male dominated Maori culture, badly disrupted by the impact of the more sophisticated civilization of western settlers, are attempting to go back to their roots to avoid being totally absorbed into the new colonial culture but remain unable to fully recognise that women must play a vital part in any process of cultural regeneration. This film, based on a book by the first Maori author to have a work published in North America, is a fictional fable that shows one way in which such an essential change to the fundamental structure of their traditional culture might take place.
This may not sound like the basis for an enjoyable film for a Western family audience, but the host of best film awards it has received does convey some sense of the extent to which it is a very exceptional movie. Although almost everyone involved played their full part in its success; it was ultimately the outstanding Oscar nominated performance given by its star which made the film memorable. Keisha Castle-Hughes was 12 years old when this was filmed and it won her the youngest ever Best Actress nomination. If there were only more young actors of this calibre, we might have more films fostering positive values in society, rather than often competing to outdo each other in violence, horror or degradation. Incidentally, but more importantly, we might also begin to find that the former films are capable of providing us all, including the younger generation, with a generally more enjoyable viewing experience.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Người Cưỡi Cá Voi
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $3,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $20,779,666
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $137,418
- Jun 8, 2003
- Gross worldwide
- $41,062,976
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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